Belarus’ biggest post-punk trio, Molchat Doma, are back striking again with their new early ‘80’s Joy Division/ The Cure inspired Atmospheric fourth album, Beyala Polosa, or ‘White Stripe’. This is the band’s first studio album since the release of 2020’s fantastically moody and gloomy Monument. The trio’s best project coming into this album, in my opinion.

As an English listener coming into this ten-song album, and already familiar with Molchat Doma’s music, I felt the album’s listening experience isn’t lost because I can’t understand Roman’s lyrics. I feel songs are more about the instrumentation and feelings felt by the listener rather than the lyrical content. Once you research the lyrics, it makes sense why the songs have this isolating, hollow and empty feeling to them, they create these vividly dark songs without necessarily understanding the message. Just like the album’s brutalist Soviet artwork, the lyrics are brutal and unforgiving at times. Parallel to the band’s cold post-punk instrumentation.  The feelings imbued into the tunes are something I’m sure the band know too much about growing up in post-Soviet Belarus.

Beyala Polosa opens the album of with an Atmospheric epic, Ty Zhe Ne Znaesh Kto Ya Or ‘You Don’t Know Who I Am’.  The album’s harrowing opener, tone setter and best single. Certainly opened up with Molchat Doma’s signature sound of echoing kick drums, ringing guitars and harrowing synths. The song itself depicts this dizzyingly anxious array of synths polished off with lyrics to match such as “You don’t love me, I’m always annoying”. The picture is painted by the instruments alone then the lyrics provide an almost signature on-top of a great artwork.

The album’s third track, Coн or Son, starts with the amalgamated sounds of a storm and extra-terrestrial synths, quite like a horror flick and feels as ominous. Then is slashed through by Pavel’s thick, no-nonsense bassline which persists throughout the track. After the canvas is painted, Egor solemnly sings in Russian about “him”, presumably his son but it isn’t said explicitly.  “Sleep, my terrible dream, There is only him, my strange dream.”, the chorus trills. So sorrowful and haunting, makes me ask what happened and why? But that’s something that can’t be answered.

Track seven, III (or 3) comes out the gates with waves and layers of a synth and drum machine cacophony, it’s somehow up-beat but yet this industrial, Soviet coldness lingers. III is Certainly the most up-tempo tune of the record and one I can see new listeners to the band enjoying. The song’s lyrics are spectral and conversational; “Flying, I did not notice, how dreams were leaving” and “In this humble night, I did not see you”. Certainly giving me the sense of an out of body experience or dream then telling that to you, the listener. Molchat Doma seem to have this affinity towards the moodier side of life that connects with the audience, this is seen with both instrumentation and lyrics, together or as individuals.

As an album all the songs were astounding individually but felt like a cohesive project holistically, an almost concept album feel to it, like The Cure’s classic Seventeen Seconds. A memorable and fun listen for both the songs and the subsequent research/ translation, which is very necessary if you’re looking for Beyala Polosa’s full experience. I would, without a doubt, recommend this record to any and all post-punk fans trying to find that next enjoyable, slow-burning listen. I would rate this album a solid 7/10 just short of their peak-project, Monument which I’d hold that at 8/10. I will be listening to it just as much and will return to it many times over.

Molchat Doma: Beyala Polosa – Out 6th September 2024 (Sacred Bones)

Doma – Belaya Polosa (Official Video) Молчат Дома – Белая Полоса (youtube.com)